Tribe gets OK for radio station
Becky Kramer
Condensed by Native Village

Coure d'Alene Reservation,
Idaho: The Federal
Communications Commission has approved the Coeur d'Alene
Tribe's reguest to start a radio station on their
reservation.

KWIS FM 88.3 will reach all
8,000 households. By tuning in, residents can check
winter road conditions on the tribe's 345,000-acres.
Or listen to a broadcast in Snchitsu'umshtsn, the Coeur d'Alene language. Or catch a
recap of the latest tribal council meeting.

The tribe has a three-year window to get the station on
the air. The signal will be broadcast from a butte in
Heyburn State Park.

Live broadcasts also would be
valuable during the huckleberry harvest, said tribal
member Valerie Fast Horse. As families head to the mountains in late summer to
pick berries, a traditional food, they need up-to-date
information about fire danger and weather, she said.

Last fall, the Coeur d'Alenes were among 37 tribes
that applied for FCC licenses to run noncommercial FM
stations. The applications, mostly for frequencies in
rural areas, came at the urging of Native Public Media.

"We had a full-fledged campaign to get tribal
applications," said Loris Ann Taylor, executive director
of Flagstaff, Ariz.-based Native Public Media, which is
a spinoff of the National Federation of Community
Broadcasters.

Thirty-three of the nation's 562 federally recognized
tribes operate radio stations. Radio is "a medium that works for Native America,"
Taylor said. "It's a huge, untapped resource."

Taylor also sees radio programming as a
way to strengthen and preserve Native cultures, including
language, music and story-telling. Most stations also reach a non-Indian
population who can learn more about the tribe and it's
culture.

"Unfortunately, Native Americans have suffered from
stereotypes in the mainstream media," Taylor said. "This
way, ethnic people get to tell their own stories in ways
that are accurate and true."

The tribe has also applied for a federal grant to hire a
radio project manager to craft a plan for
getting KWIS 88.3 on the air and across the reservation.

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